'Breath of the Wild' Has Become Japan’s Best-Selling 'Legend of Zelda' Game
09/05/2018 04:54 pm EDT
There's no question that the Nintendo Switch has gained a huge following in Japan since its release last year. The publisher noted that the system has already sold five million units in that market thus far, thanks to games like Splatoon 2 and Octopath Traveler. And now one of its key titles has become the sales leader in its franchise overall, toppling a legend in the process.
Based on numbers provided by the team at Media Create, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has just become the highest selling game in the franchise, beating out a game that's held the record for almost two decades: Ocarina of Time. The N64 classic held the top spot for several years, fending off the likes of Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword among others, but Breath has eventually caught up and even surpassed its numbers.
Based on sales statistics, Breath of the Wild has managed to sell just over 1,258,000 copies combined on the Wii U and Switch, beating out Ocarina of Time's 1,257,205 copies. It appears that nearly 1.1 million of those copies were accounting for the Switch version.
True, it's sold a lot more than that overseas, especially with the U.S. and European copies combined. But this marks a nice turning point for the Switch in Japan, which is likely to continue to thrive in the holiday season, thanks to forthcoming releases like Super Mario Party and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as popular third-party releases that are on the way.
Media Create also broke down the individual sales numbers for each entry in the Zelda series, which you can see below.
- [NSW+WIU] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild # (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} (¥6.980) – 1.258.611
- [N64] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo) {1998.11.21} (¥6.800) – 1.257.205
- [NDS] The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo) {2006.06.23} (¥4.800) – 908.434
- [N64] The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo) {2000.04.27} (¥6.800) – 876.575
- [GCN] The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo) {2002.12.13} (¥6.800) – 837.391
- [NDS] The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo) {2009.12.23} – 700.373
- [WII+GCN] The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo) {2006.12.02} (¥6.476) – 642.607
- [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo) {2011.06.16} (¥4.800) – 613.328
- [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D # (Nintendo) {2015.02.14} (¥5.076) – 464.196
- [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds # (Nintendo) {2013.12.26} (¥4.800) – 443.630
- [WII] The Legend: Skyward Sword (Nintendo) {2011.11.23} (¥6.476) – 358.601
So...Skyward Sword sold the least? We thought Minish Cap wouldn't have done that well, but then again, we really don't see it on this list.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now for Wii U and Nintendo Switch.
(Hat tip to Resetera for the details!)
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